


Equals

by ZeldaElmo



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, My First Smut, Smut, Zelda and Link sorting things out in their own way, angry link, post calamity, zelink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:47:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26155213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeldaElmo/pseuds/ZeldaElmo
Summary: Still having difficulties to speak about their feelings, Zelda and Link procrastinated the much needed talk out after their reunion. That is, until Zelda discovers that Link read her diary and the following fight gets a bit out of control.Now with part two and three!
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 142





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everybody!  
> I'm currently working on a modern Zelink AU, but after 34.000 words, I needed a break of the always understanding, respectful and soft Link over there. So, I wrote this to get my mind at ease again.  
> Enjoy!

Somewhere in the wild between Kakariko village and Zora’s domain, on a place far from the road between some remains of a long-forgotten settlement, two Hylian travelers were preparing their camp for the night. The place was well-considered, as Link preferred a campground in the wild anyway, always beware of Yigas disguised as travelers, and Zelda wasn’t ready to be recognized as the Crown princess yet. The ruins hid them further from the hardly visible road, providing a safe spot in a landscape of rolling hills and swamps with shallow waters. With one well-placed ice arrow Link had lazily taken out the single fire wizzrobe, which had been dancing over the ruins, so there wasn’t a threat to be expected.

A few weeks had passed since their victory against Calamity Ganon and the whole setting was achingly familiar. Link, unarmed for once, bathed in the warm evening light, was unreeling both of their bedrolls like he had done uncounted times before. Zelda was sitting at the campfire, Sheikah Slate in her hands, regarding the compendium, scribbling memos in her little notebook. It could have been a scene from hundred years ago, if not for the ruins, of course.

One would think, without the threat of a Calamity looming above them and without the expectations of a King and the court, the two Hylians had used their reunion to finally confess their mutual feelings for each other. They had wanted to do so, both of them, really, but none of them were able to make the first step. So, they hovered between the meanwhile unwanted, unfitting relationship of Princess and appointed knight and something else, neither of them capable of making the key move.

During their first days in Kakariko, Link had suggested taking a break in his house in Hateno. He had urged himself forward, always forward to free Zelda as soon as possible, and wanted nothing more than a little rest. Nothing serious, only two or three weeks to recover, to sleep half of the day and to cook all the new and old recipes for Zelda he had discovered on his journey, to simply do nothing for once and well, to sort things out between Zelda and him.

Impa didn’t want to hear anything of this and had pressed Zelda to take up her royal duties. Zelda, taking one longing look at Link and his tempting proposition, had followed through. Her guilty coincident of having left her people alone for so long had partly caused her decision, but another part of her was also eager to see the change of her land, to be on the road again, her scholarly mind yearning for occupation after the long stasis of being with Hylia. The news that Vah Ruta and the other divine beasts had stopped working had given her the last impulse to settle the decision.

Link, outvoted two against one, had obliged with gritted teeth, unwilling to leave Zelda alone after being separated from her for so long. He had told himself, that he could do all these things on the road, too, they weren’t in a hurry anymore, surely there would be time for a lazy afternoon on a riverbank and plenty of opportunities to talk at the campfire.

Unfortunately, both Hylians hadn’t learned from their mistakes a century ago. Their topics at the campfire varied from the problems with the divine beasts to memories Zelda retold to assist Link to remember his past over stories with which Link helped Zelda to accustom to the new Hyrule. Both of them tried to ignore the elephant in the room, waiting for a better opportunity which – of course – never came.

A body language – full of stolen glances and lingering touches – and the unasked questions and unsaid words added up to an odd mix between them. The mood wasn’t exactly tense, far from it, but the unexpressed expectations resulted in more and more snapped words, where there would have been a reassuring smile a century ago.

This evening, however, no strained words had passed between them. Over the dinner, which Link had prepared, they had spent the time with amicable conversation, both basking in the comfortable presence of the other.

A smile was still tugging at Zelda’s lips, as she sat the Shiekah Slate aside, laying the notebook on her knees to underline her last discoveries of the energy fireflies were using to glow. She turned the page to add a little drawing but frowned when she discovered, that her handwriting had pressed through the page, which was, unfortunately, the last one.

“Link?” She called over the fire, where he was still rummaging with his stuff, rearranging his weapons to have them ready to hand, just in case.

“Do you happen to know, where we stored that spare notebook? I already filled mine here.”

She lifted the booklet and showed him the neatly written and annotated pages.

Link nodded in the direction of one of his packs behind her.

“Should be over there, in the small side pocket. Your old research notes are there, too, I discovered them in the castle and thought, you might find them useful.”

“What?!” Zelda was immediately on her feet, spinning around to find the said bag. It took her a moment to get the latch open, the excitement making her fingers fidgety. When she finally unfolded the cover, she discovered several little books. One after another, she pulled them out. The first was the spare notebook, she was originally looking for. The second and the third were some kind of cookbook, she had never seen before. The fourth was indeed the booklet with her research notes and the fifth and the sixth, her father’s and her diary.

Link had stepped up behind her, pointing to the diary of the King.

“He regretted pushing you so hard, it’s on one of the last pages. He wanted to end –”

Surprised, he anticipated her tense shoulders and her stiff posture as she stood up, the pile of books pressed against her chest.

“Did you read _my_ diary, too?” Compared to her voice, the master sword was a blunt butter knife.

Link, taken aback by the sudden change in her mood, stumbled a few steps backward. Two things were certain: She wouldn’t like the truth and he was a horrible liar.

“Yes. I did read it. But... I had my reasons to do it.”

“Your reasons?” She nearly tripped over her feet when she turned around. “Did you ever hear of privacy?”

“Do you want to hear them, or not?”

Shifting his weight to get out of his defensive bearing, he squared his shoulders. He had had his reasons, no matter if she believed him or not.

“I do not care about your silly reasons. You had no right to read it!” She clenched the books so hard, that her knuckles went white, still processing, that he didn’t even try to blanch his failure over.

Link began to unfasten his hood in an attempt to calm himself. With a forceful pull on the fabric, he yanked the half unraveled ribbon open.

“You wanted me to remember you! Can’t complain now, when I have a mind of my own!”

The familiar phrase stroked a chord in Zelda and her remorse towards him after the first awful months returned to her mind.

“I can’t see, what the one has to do with the other, but go on then.”

“Ok, ok. Well… ” Link scratched his neck, pondering over his next words. He wanted her to cool down, but he wouldn’t blame himself for his memory loss. The shrine had been _her_ idea, after all.

“When I woke up, Princess, I stumbled out of that cave, a branch in my hand, and a hole in my heart. I was so lonely, something, somebody was missing.”

He eyed her to discover a sign of emotion on her face, but she was still only looking incredibly mad.

“Your voice stirred something in me, so I suspected, it could be you. But then on my way to Vah Medoh, I remembered how you yelled at me at the shrine.”

Pressing his eyes shut, he tried to cast the unpleasant memory and the tense mood out.

“Next, I went to Zora’s domain and everyone hated me as if I had killed Mipha with my own hands. The turning point was, that someone pulled out an armor, that Mipha had crafted for me. Must be an engagement present or something like that, because after I freed Vah Ruta, Sidon was babbling about that I’m quasi his brother-in-law.”

“Wait a minute.” Zelda stared at Link with eyes widened in shock. “You were engaged to Mipha the whole time?! Did you raise my hopes although you already had a fiancé? And now, she’s dead and you think I’m, oh… _how dare you_?!”

At the end of her speech, she was at the top of her voice, glaring at him with a mixture of outrage and hurt.

“Princess! Let me finish for Hylia’s sake!” Link yelled at her impatiently, folding his hood forcefully together, and threw it at his pack.

“Finish? I’m finished with you – “

“I was not engaged!”, he interrupted her rudely. “The armor is like a ring; you give it as a present at the proposal. She wanted to propose to me, but she didn’t. Or I refused, I don’t remember that. Ok? I was definitely not engaged to her. Will you let me continue now?”

Zelda, still hugging the books like a lifeline, narrowed her eyes at him.

“I’m not sure if I want to hear the rest.”

“Thank you for trusting me, Princess.” Link snorted.

“For a few days, I thought the mystery was solved, but then I remembered more and more about Mipha and my feelings towards her were love, but not a romantic kind of love.”

“Still don’t see, why this is a reason to intrude someone’s privacy.”

She wasn’t on the edge of running away anymore, but her voice was still _very_ sharp.

“You warned me of the blood moon on my way to Death Mountain. And your voice… that wasn’t the princess from the shrine. You _cared_. I had to know, so I went to the castle instead.”

He sighed, his first, unpleasant visit of the castle replaying in his inner eye.

“Once there, I remembered how you swore me in your service, clearly despising me. Nothing fit together, I nearly ran into the sanctum just to ask you. I went to your room instead, hoping that something would spark my memories, and discovered your diary on your desk. I had to give it a try.”

“That’s all?” Dropping the pile of books unceremonious next to her bedroll, she stepped towards him, pointing at him with her index finger.

“That’s the lamest excuse in history! You just could have followed the pictures on the slate and there would have been no need to spurn my privacy.”

“You are serious about this, aren’t you?” Link bawled at her. “Can you imagine, what it is like to wake up in a healing pool and a voice has to tell you your name? The first person you met happens to be a ghost, who tells you, that you must save the world, no matter what?”

Throwing his hands over-dramatically in the air, he mocked her.

“And you complain, that I didn’t follow your orders from hundred years ago in the correct order.” He threw an angry look at her, unable to stop his words.

“That’s all that I am to you, isn’t it? A tool to order around. A dutiful knight who does what he is said.”

“You know that isn’t true.” Zelda hissed at him, but Link wasn’t finished yet.

“So, yes, I did read your diary”, he spat.

“I read it because I needed to know if it was you. If you were the person who belonged to this love in my heart. And you know what? You were. You are. I don’t know.”

He removed his gauntlets with a firm jerk and threw them forcefully on his bedroll.

“I know I’m not the person _you_ remember. I bet this is the first time, I speak up towards you, isn’t it?”

Zelda had closed the gap between them except for a few steps, one hand on her hip, a slight blush from his words, and her anger on her cheeks.

“Who do you think you are, Sir Link?”, she snapped at him.

“I don’t know, what _we_ are, but Princess and Knight is it not, _your highness_.”, he barked.

“Not after all what you’ve put me through. Why didn’t you let me die there in blatchery plain? I swore on oath to defend you ‘til my dying breath and that’s what I did. I would have died happily with the thought, that you finally did it. But it wasn’t _enough_ for you.”

He shook his head, pointing at her.

“No, you had to send me to this damned shrine. You could have let me die and Hylia would have sent you another Hero. But, no, you knew I would never let you down, even if I don’t remember my own name. No one in whole Hyrule would be stupid enough to go on _another_ suicide mission just to get you back, no one, but me.”

He pushed his two thumbs on his chest to underline his words, before he removed his leather gloves with his teeth, one after another, and tossed them directly next to his gauntlets despite the distance, waiting for her to answer.

Zelda’s gaze lingered still on his mouth, even when the rough gesture had long passed. She stepped closer to him, trapping him between her and the ruin in his back.

Narrowing her eyes at him, she asked with an icy edge in her voice: “So, you love me?”

“Yes, I love you, _Zelda_ ”, he hissed, raising his chin, his eyes sparkling dangerously, “and I’m not sorry.”

“Do you know”, she continued, both hands on her hips now, mirroring the sparkle in her own eyes, “do you know why I didn’t let you die?”

She soundly sucked a breath in, the memories of that day still haunted her.

“Do you really think it was a lucky coincident, that my powers awoke at that moment after ten, _ten_ years of fruitless praying?”

She leaned forward while she spoke, now nearly face to face with him.

“I didn’t know they would awake when I stepped in front of you to take that cursed blast! I was ready to die for you, Link. Do you know, why I fought a hundred, _hundred_ years waiting for your return?”

She was close enough now, that their noses nearly bumped.

“Because I didn’t want another Hero! I wanted _you_. Still want. A life without you wasn’t livable for me, that’s why I saved you!”

She took him by surprise, otherwise, she would never have been able to shove him against the wall. Curling her fists in his tunic, she pressed her lips against his in an angry kiss.

His reaction was immediate; he forced his hand in her hair, angled her head slightly, but resolute to deepen the kiss.

In response, she bit his bottom lip, eliciting a gasp from him, and used this opportunity to slide her tongue against his teeth. She tried to withdraw after that, but he wouldn’t let her. Grabbing her waist with his other hand, he pulled her back, fighting a duel with her tongue for dominance.

They were both panting heavily when they had to broke the kiss for oxygen, but she recovered first.

“I’m _not_ sorry for saving your life. Twice.” She poked him hard with her index finger in the chest. “Are _you_ going to apologize now?”

“Hell, _no_!”, he spat out. “Told you, I’m not even sorry.”

As her finger was still on his chest, he grabbed her wrist and turned her around, so she was with her back against the wall now. He released her arm, placed his palms on the rough wall on each side of her face, and stared her down.

“I’m done being your lapdog, _Princess_.”

She pulled him down in another heated kiss, his resistance only lasting for a split-second. Her hands wandered in his hair, loosening his ponytail, willing him closer. When he obliged and stepped between her legs, squeezing them slightly apart, she pushed his chest back, breaking the kiss once more.

“Good.” She snarled, gasping for breath. “I was going to release you from your duty anyway. Can do it just as well now.”

“Oh”, he growled against her swollen lips, “So I’m free to go now?”

“No.” With one swift motion, she hooked her leg around him and forced him against her. “You are going nowhere.”

Lifting her other leg around his hip, he pressed her in the wall, sliding his hands up her thighs, and captured her lips for a short, hard kiss.

“Nowhere? I’m definitely not going from lapdog to boy toy.”

“Link.” She sneaked her hands under his tunic, roaming with her hands over the scars on his back, digging her fingernails in, when she reached his shoulders. “I want you. Everything of you. _By my side_.”

He shifted her so that he could hold her nearly with hips alone and let his hands wander further. Cupping her butt with his palms, he gripped her hard to coax a gasp out of her, using the moment to steal an open-mouthed kiss.

“ _That_ might be an option. Zelda.”

Her hands found his hair again and she tugged him even closer, so she could bite his earlobe, sucking on his earring.

“It better is.”

Considering her words, he shoved her chin up with his head to get better access to her neck, covering it with little nibs.

“In front of everybody?”

“We start with King Dorephan tomorrow.” She tugged his ear to her mouth again and whispered: “Unless you are afraid to introduce your new love interest to your father-in-law, _loverboy_?”

Shifting her again, he moved his leg under her to free his hands. He stretched the neckline of her blouse, but the high-necked collar refused to move. Groaning in frustration, he dragged the hem upwards instead, finally finding her lace-covered breasts.

“Hardly new after one hundred something years”, he said, squeezing her breasts in his firm grip, eliciting a half-suppressed moan from her. “Waiting for me to back out? Dream on.”

Pushing him back to kiss the smug grin from his face, she ground her hips down on his, feeling him rock hard against her. Gripping his chin, she forced him to look in her eyes, superior from her slightly higher position, and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Fighting turns you on? How fitting, _Hero_.”

“Don’t call me that.” He groaned and after sucking hard at her neck, leaving a bright mark: “Not fighting. You turn me on. Like hell. But tell that your soaked leggings.”

“When did you get so annoyingly chatty?”, she frowned at him. “My bedroll, now.”

“No.”

His hands returned to her backside and grabbing her butt tighter, he released her from the wall, carrying her towards their campground, his voice thick with want and affection, when he spoke.

“Who do you think you are, the high and mighty Princess of Hyrule? _My_ bedroll.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is just porn, no plot. If that isn't your cup of tea, skip it and go directly to chapter 3 instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked for more, so here we go!

Somewhere in the wild between Kakariko village and Zora’s domain, on a place far from the road between some remains of a long-forgotten settlement, two Hylians made their way over to their campsite, a ghost of her former frown still tucking at Zelda’s mouth. It was true – this was the first time, that Link had talked back and it affected her body and mind. He had left his comfort zone to stand his ground and had ended the asymmetry in their relationship – a fact she wasn’t aware that it was bothering her before it vanished.

Her head spun with the changes a balanced relationship between them might imply and her mind had trouble keeping up, but her body had its own opinion respective a resolute Link. The way how he had pressed her into the wall, how assertive he had argued with her, how his sure hands had roamed over her upper body, let the heat pool in her groin and caused the buds of her breasts to rub against the fabric of her bralette. In the split-second, Link bit the place directly under her ear, she decided, that thinking things through had to wait.

With a well-placed kick, Link pushed his bedroll next to Zelda’s, causing his stuff to topple in the grass before he allowed her to slip from his hips. Giving her no time to adjust, he pressed her flush against him, rolling his hips teasingly, just so, that his erection rubbed against the spot, where her arousal had dampened her pants.

Zelda was not having any of that. She tangled her fists in his hair again, pulling him closer, kissing him with clashing teeth, forcing her tongue in his mouth, only to be greeted with his already waiting for her. Link’s hands wandered from her backside to the hem of her blouse again, tugging the rest of the fabric out of her pants, tearing it upwards in another helpless attempt to get rid of the piece.

“Off”, he commanded.

“Your turn”, she answered, lifting the collar of his tunic and brushing with her index finger up to his chin lazily.

Link grasped her shoulders, turned her around, steadying her with his strong arms. Carefully, he brushed her hair aside and placed a lingering kiss at her nape, making her hum in return. She yelped surprised, when he ripped the button border in pieces without warning, the little pearl buttons falling to the ground like a rain shower.

“Link, what are you doing?!”

“Freeing my princess from this piece of Malice, of course”, he muttered in her hair, finally able to slide the blouse from her shoulders.

She was about to tease him, that he wasn’t her knight attendant anymore, but the words caught in her throat when his hands were roaming over the soft skin of her stomach, cupping her breasts and rubbing her nipples through the lace of her bralette with his thumbs. A soft whimper escaped her when he twisted and pinched them, but suddenly, his fingers withdrew and the thrilling vibration of his hot breath on her neck was gone. She was about to protest, but then she heard the rustling of his tunic and sighed in relief when she felt his bare chest crush against her back, his heat washing over her.

Addicted to the new sensation of so much skin on skin, he wrapped his arms around her waist, grazed her pulse point with his teeth before he whispered in her ear:

“Kiss me.”

Interpreting her hum as agreement, he turned her slightly in his arms, just enough, that she could lean her head on his shoulder, and for the first time on this evening, their fight for dominance was truly put aside.

They shared a tender kiss, soft and slow, the urgency of their bodies forgotten for a moment as the sense of their earlier words finally sunk in, the knowledge that their feelings were mutual warming them from inside. Zelda’s heart fluttered in her chest when Link’s grip shifted again and he dipped her like they were ballroom dancing, never breaking the kiss. He hooked one arm under her knees and put her down on the bedrolls, towering above her with a goofy grin.

“Ouch!”, Zelda cursed and slapped Link playfully on his chest. She sat up and brushed the pearl buttons under her aside, pricking two of them out of her hair.

“You are going to fix this tomorrow!”

Link caught her wrist and made his way up her inner arm, sucking, biting and kissing, until he reached her collarbone. Letting go of her hand, he cupped her breasts again, tugging at the lace with his fingers teasingly. He squeezed them together and sucked at the soft flesh, leaving another purple mark. His voice was muffled, but she understood him nonetheless.

“Uh, uh, no ordering around anymore.”

“Well, in that case…”, she smiled demonstrative coyly and hooked her thumbs in the waistband of her leggings and pulled them down, revealing lace-covered panties.

Link took a moment to take in the sight in front of him. Zelda, the woman he was so long only allowed to see as his charge, who was just a voice, a foggy memory so many months and a longing dream once she was free again, looking at him through half-lidded eyes, rubbing her thighs in anticipation, waiting for him. Instantly, he knew that he would go on a third suicide mission for her without a second thought.

Beginning at her ankles, he kissed and licked her skin, letting his hands wander over her legs with firm pressure. He had touched her before, countless times, helping her from her horse, a reassuring squint on the shoulder, rarely even holding her hand, but always dulled through his gloves. Sensing her warm skin under his palms and under his rough fingers, feeling how she arched in his touch, how responsive she was to his strokes made his heart flutter and his cock throb.

When he reached the hem of her panties, he sneaked his hands inside, cupping her butt, running cycles with his thumbs on her hipbones. He hovered over her lace-covered womanhood, knowing that she could feel his hot breath even through the fabric when she bucked her hips in his face. Grinning, he placed a lingering kiss where he knew she wanted him most and drew back, kissing the desperate noise from her mouth instead.

“Link”, she breathed, her sassy attitude completely gone now, “stop teasing, please.”

“Oh, looks like someone is a quick learner, huh?”, he chuckled. Picking at her bralette he continued suggestively, “if you want to keep your underwear in one piece… “

Before he could even blink, she had pulled the garment over her head and it flew together with her panties in the grass. He would have very much liked to take her in once more, but she wouldn’t let him. She grabbed the hair at his neck and pulled him with her, searching his lips for a hungry kiss, intention clear, opening his belt with a surprising smooth movement. Gasping into his mouth, when the cold metal of his belt buckle hit the hot skin at her thigh, she recovered quickly and tried to shove his pants down. He tried to help but tangled himself in the clothes, so he ultimately had to break the kiss.

Zelda watched him freeing himself from the clothes. She had seen him at least half-naked a few times before – it wasn’t unusual to train shirtless among the soldiers on a hot summer day – but that had been a century ago and she had only been able to steal a glance or two from afar. Now she could admire his well-formed muscles, the cords emerging, when he tensed them.

It was easy to underestimate him, because he wasn’t overly broad-shouldered or buffed out, not even tall, but he was fit to the point and that was showing on his body. How many of the scars on his toned skin had he taken for her? Too many, that was for sure, but she knew that despite his harsh words, he would do it all over again, as much as she would do it for him.

Her eyes wandered further to the proud erection he was sporting, not overly average, but she wouldn’t underestimate him again after she had seen, what he was able to do with the rest of his body. Before she could finish the thought, that she had done this to him, that he had chosen her of all the people he had met on his travels through Hyrule, he was beside her, his head on his arm, looking at her with a grin.

She wondered shortly, what he was up to, she had made it clear enough that she couldn’t take any more teasing, but when he spread her legs and brushed over her folds with the back of his hand, she knew. Of course, he wouldn’t just take her like a drunken soldier in a backroom of a tavern, he was a gentleman at heart, no matter how heated their argument had been.

Link was now exploring her with his fingers, beginning at her inner thigh, changing between a firm grip and a brushing touch, sliding over her outer lips until he heard her mutter a desperate ‘Link, please!’.

Smirking, he pulled her towards him, the urge to hear every gasp, every moan, every whimper that would escape her guiding him. He needed her close, skin on skin, closer, so he would be able to feel whenever she shuddered, whenever her fingers would twist, and whenever her legs would tremble.

Searching her lips for an open-mouthed kiss, he slid two fingers in her folds, gentle at first, but with a little more pressure, when she rolled her hips in his touch. He couldn’t suppress a hoarse groan when he felt how wet she was for him already, nearly unable to keep his movements on a steady pace.

His fingers found her clit, knowing he hit the right spot when her soft hum turned into a low moan. Agonizing slowly, he rubbed his fingers over the little pearl, ignoring her keening sound. She pressed her eyes shut and grabbed the bedroll, after he pushed two fingers in her, his thump now circling where his fingers had been moments before. Observing every little sound, he coaxed out of her, he anticipated quickly, which twitch of his fingers drove her nearer to the brink.

Picking up speed and pressure, he felt her inner walls beginning to clench around his fingers, the promise of her slick, hot tightness boosting his arousal. It wasn’t long until he could sense his name on her lips but somehow, it wasn’t enough for him.

“I wanna hear you say it”, he whispered in her ear, slowing his pace slightly.

“Link…don’t stop! I… I beg you, please don’t stop”, she winced.

“I won’t”, he reassured her, continuing his ministrations and added smirking, “We save the begging part for another time.“

He leaned his forehead against hers, suddenly getting bashful, now he had her attention. “I… well… “ He stole a little kiss from her lips, unable to put his request further in words without sounding too desperate.

To his relief, she was quick-witted enough even in this state of mind. Searching his eyes to confirm her assumption, she closed the gap between them with a sweet, longing kiss and while drawing back she breathed: “I love you, too, Link.”

She could barely hear his ‘thank you’, because he suddenly towered over her, grazing the firm softness of her breasts with his lips, circling her areola with his tongue, biting her nipples, before he went further down. It was all she needed to be close to salvation again, the pressure building up, her hips bucking in his hands on their own accord.

He released her and she was about to let out an irritated noise paired up with the question ‘what now?’, when she felt his lips nipping at her womanhood, the thought of his hot mouth at such a scandalous part of her body making her dizzy with want. She couldn’t keep it together anymore and she didn’t have to, not in front of him, so she allowed herself to be vocal, to moan increasingly with every flick of his tongue.

She melted into his mouth, the gentle movements of his lips and his tongue chasing the pleasure within her higher and higher. Just as she thought, she couldn’t bear the tension any longer, Link sucked hard at her clit and she was gone. She curled her fists in his hair, to stop him and to push him closer all at once, the fireworks which were erupting behind her eyes letting her whole body tremble.

“Goddess, Link!”, she panted, when she slowly came down from her high. He placed a last kiss, laughed, as she shied away due to her over sensibility, and let himself fall next to her again with a thud.

“Just Link is enough, but I appreciate the praise.” He smirked and caressed her side, his interest hardly hidden with his hard cock pressed against her outer thigh, although he avoided touching her sensitive spots methodically.

Zelda poked him, finding her normal breathing pattern, but suddenly she shifted under his touch and she was coyly again, this time for real.

“Uhm… Link?” She asked, twirling his bangs around her index finger. “Well… I… “

Link stopped in his tracks, his hand resting on her upper arm. “We don’t have to, Zelda. I can show you what you can do for me and we leave it like that”, he proposed softly.

“No, that’s not it.” She shook her head and made a face at him. “I know what to do, Link. I’m not _that_ inexperienced. You are not even my first.”

Link’s whole body tensed, his wide-blown pupils refocused at hers until his eyes were ice-blue like the ice columns on Mount Lanayru and the grip on her arm tightened.

“Who?”, he hissed in her face, as if he could intimidate the absent rival through the dangerous edge in his voice alone.

“Link?”, Zelda asked, eyes wide open.

Blinking, he realized, what he was doing and released her arm, muttering a rueful, ‘sorry’, taking a few calming breaths.

“Eh… If you don’t mind”, he tried to ask casually and failed miserably, “who was your first?”

Zelda eyed him cautiously, still a little shocked after his intense reaction.

“The… the court poet…”, she breathed, her gaze avoiding his. “But it was horrible, I was just looking for an outtake of my frustrations and – “, she stopped as he sat up on his heels, his erection still peeking over his thighs, and she could see the gears turning in his head.

Link tried to sort through his fragmentary memory. Things from Before were still difficult to integrate, but he did remember a few things about the court poet. Kass's stories had helped to spark a few memories of the Shiekah bard.

“I was with you all the time, Zelda.” He slowly began. “Are you telling me, that you had an affair right under my nose? I know we weren’t together back then, but I thought… I… I have to think about this.”

“Link.” Zelda sat up as well and touched his shoulder. “It was a few weeks before you were appointed as my knight, ok? You ended it basically with your constant presence.” She chuckled, “The one and only thing I was thankful for.”

“Oh? Can’t say I’m sorry about _that”,_ he said and flashed a lopsided grin at her. “I… you needn’t justify yourself. I’m sorry.” He pressed his eyes shut, “it’s just… you do _things_ with my heart, Zelda.”

“Come here.” Zelda laid back on the bedroll and gestured towards him. Link followed, a bit unsure how to continue after that, but he worried in vain. Zelda kissed him softly all over his face, before she stopped inches over his lips, their breaths mingling, and whispered: “I love you, Link.”

He closed the gap with a firm and innocent kiss before he pulled back.

“I love you, too, Zelda.”

The woman in question wasn’t done kissing him and traced her tongue over his bottom lip to beg for entrance. Soon enough their kisses grew hungry and sloppy again and eager hands were roaming over hot skin.

“Link?” Zelda whispered in his ear, her warm breath tingling on his skin. “What I really wanted to say earlier… I’ve been taking contraceptive elixirs for a while now. So… “, she left the last sentence in the air, waiting for his reaction.

Link froze. “What?” He pulled away to study her face with an amused expression of disbelief. “You planned this”, he stated.

“We’ll be on the road for _months_ , Link. Don’t pretend you didn’t think about it. I couldn’t take the risk of an unplanned pregnancy, as small as it might be.”

“The Princess of Hyrule planned to get in my pants”, he shook his head, grinning from ear to ear.

“How often did you imagine me doing this?”, he chuckled and bent down to lick a stripe up her neck.

“Or this?” He squeezed her breasts with just the right amount of pressure to make her whimper in anticipation and circled one nipple with his tongue before giving the other side the same treatment.

“And how often”, he groaned in her ear, “this?”, when he rubbed the head of his cock along her folds, hardly able to keep himself from pushing into her at the feeling of her warm wetness.

“That’s none of your business, Sir Link,” Zelda answered flatly and rolled him over, so she was on top now (and they were on her bedroll, but neither of them seemed to care anymore).

“I bet you”, he had to suck a sharp breath in, when she slid her clit over his length, letting him know how much she wanted him with this single movement, “have a whole database on the slate”, he finished lamely.

She leaned over him, her breasts teasingly near to his chest, and snapped: „Shut up or I’ll stop.”

Link held both hands over his mouth and tried to buck his hips up, obeying for once. He throve his hands over his face in his hair, groaning, the blue leather cord long lost when she straddled his thighs and wrapped his cock in her delicate fingers.

She hummed absentminded in response, the sensation of him in her hands, hard and hot like a ruby ore, the skin smooth like the silk of one of her formal gowns, overwhelming her. Running her hands over his length, brushing over the dip on his head where she could sense a drop of precum already, she watched his every reaction and repeated a movement, when he twitched under her fingers, biting his lips.

He had laid his hands over his head, still partly tangled in his hair, eyes shut. Never had she seen him so vulnerable, not even in blatchery field. He was a fierce warrior, able to cast out his emotions at sheer will. The thought that her former closed-off knight trusted her blindly, that he wanted to share this with her, that he chose to be open with _her_ , spread warmth in her which had nothing to do with her arousal. The sudden urge to be near him leading her, she leaned over him without letting go of his cock and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. Surprised, he shot his eyes open only to find her smiling fondly over him.

“What was that for?”

She shrugged and kissed him again, stroking him tenderly. “Do you want me to continue that or should we...”, she stopped, too embarrassed to speak her wish aloud.

“We don’t want to waste these elixirs, want we?”, he grinned at her sheepishly.

“No”, she laughed and positioned herself over him, “that would be a shame, wouldn’t it?”

Link opened his mouth to answer, but out came only a long moan, because Zelda used his distraction to sank slowly down on him. She took a deep breath, to take the time to adjust herself to the sudden fullness, but to savor the moment, too.

Of course, Link had been right, she had fantasized about this and other things – a lot. Always hoping, even suspecting, that it was not duty alone that drove him to her, that the glances he stole at her and his lingering touch meant, that her feelings were returned. Her fantasies faded to the real experience, the feeling of Link inside her, how he filled her, how right this felt was nothing she could have imagined. It was a bit awkward, too, because the images in her head were just little loose snippets, where the real Link smiled at her now, waiting for her to move.

She rolled her hips, once, twice to find the best angle, to find a rhythm, a pattern, the movement they would enjoy both. It didn’t take her long and now she had it, she brushed over his hands to motivate him to touch her. He kneaded her breasts, already picked up that she would arch into his touch then, squeezing the soft and firm flesh in his fingers, brushing his thumbs over her nipples again, sending sparks down her spine with every move. They added up with the sparks from the place where they were joined in a soft, steady pace, washing over her until she felt her body beginning to react in the most pleasing way.

Interlacing their hands, she brought his arms above his head, leaning over him. The short kiss she gave him, wasn’t enough for him, he tried to kiss her again, now that she was closer, falling back with a frustrated groan when she didn’t let him. She couldn’t. Entangled in her desire to keep the sparks going, she used the strength of her thighs at this altered position, speeding up, making bigger movements to hit that spot inside her.

Again, she didn’t keep quiet, wanted to show him, how much she loved this, how much she loved being with him, how much she loved _him,_ and thus between ragged breaths, his name was on her lips again.

Link couldn’t do much from his position under her, his hands trapped in hers over his head, so he changed between closing his eyes and relishing her clenching warmth around him and stealing glances at her riding him with bouncing breasts and an ecstatic face. He knew that memories were a tricky thing, but at this moment, he swore an oath to himself, that he would never forget the feeling of her skin against his, prickling with every move, never forget how her body embraced his as if they were made for each other, a perfect fit, and never, _ever_ forget, how she closed her eyes and moaned his name for the first time.

Being a warrior nearly his whole lifetime, Link sensed instinctively every sign of exhaustion on a counterpart – when he felt Zelda's arms and thighs trembling, her movements getting slurred, he knew it was not because she was getting close, but because her body needed still struggled after her stasis. He gently freed his hands from hers, pulled her down in a resolute kiss, and whispered in her ear: “Let me.”

She nodded thankfully, the dynamic between them too new and she too proud to ask for a change herself and so he flipped them over once more.

Kneeling, he pulled her close, lifting her legs over his shoulders, and sank into her tight, warm wetness again, causing them both to sigh in relief. Slowly, he began to move, observing her, if this new angle was too much, if he perhaps made her uncomfortable. He couldn’t stop a laugh which sent a shockwave through them both when her eyes widened in response to his cautious thrusts and she nodded frenetically.

Encouraged, he picked up a steady pace, knowing, they both wouldn’t last long after a whole evening as a buildup. Their new position allowed him to bury himself deep in her, so he preferred deliberate, measured thrusts, each of them letting the pleasure ripple through his whole body.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her, the impulse to take her in only increasing with the coil tightening somewhere low in his belly. She had never looked so beautiful to him as right now, her cheeks flushed, her hair spread in a messy halo around her, her hands curled in one of their blankets.

The pressure lasting upon her had lessened after their victory of course, but she was still taking her duties very seriously, her mind never unoccupied – be it with the task of rebuilding the kingdom or her interests as a scholar. She was so relaxed now, so much _Zelda_ and so little princess, and his sudden realization, that he would have the privilege to see her like this every day, pushed him even nearer to the edge.

She shifted under him, so he released her, and she wrapped her legs around his hips instead. He wanted to be nearer to her anyway, therefore he tried to trace her neck with little kisses, but it was too difficult to keep up the rhythm, to kiss, and to breathe simultaneously. So, he just ground into her, increasing the speed steadily, and basked in the sweet nothings she murmured in his ear mixed up with his name.

Again, he needed her nearer, closer, deeper. Sliding his hand along her side, he cupped the cheek of her butt and pulled her towards him, angling her hip and increasing their fraction. She groaned low and guttural at this new sensation – a sound he would never have dreamed she would be able to make. It vibrated through his cock, the white-hot pleasure crawling upon him slowly but surely.

Without warning, her whole body tensed and she tightened her legs around him to still his movements, moaning his name, she pulled him closer – but he wasn’t ready, surprised that she was this close, though he slowed down nonetheless.

He tried to rock her gently through her climax, aiming for slow movements so he didn’t overwhelm her, remembering her over sensibility from before, but the feeling of her inner walls clenching around him pushed him forward again, causing her to gasp in surprise. She held onto him like a lifeline, when his body reacted on his own accord and he thrust harder, deeper until the coil finally burst and his hips came to a stuttering rest.

Through the white, blissful haze in his mind and body, he knew that this was not how he had wanted it to be, this was not the way _he_ wanted to be as her lover.

He felt her trembling under him, felt her exhaling shaking breaths, the tension leaving her with each thundering heartbeat, but when he slowly came back and bumped his forehead against hers, he realized in relief, that she smiled tenderly at him.

“Hey”, he managed.

Her smile grew. “Hey.”

He wanted to explain, to apologize, anything, but she silenced him with a soft kiss, telling him that she was ok, that they were ok. “We do better next time”, she whispered.

“Next time”, he smiled back weakly, his mind dizzy and his heart light.

Cautiously, he separated them, causing them to gasp the last time. Covering them both with one of the blankets she had so desperately clutched minutes before, he opened his arms for her and she snuggled against his chest, legs tangled with his. He pulled her closer, buried his nose in her hair, and dozed off, the last thought in his mind, how on earth he had gotten so lucky to end up with her in his arms.

Zelda smiled in his chest, asking herself a very similar question. His memory loss and his following trip through Hyrule had given him plenty of opportunities to fall for someone else – there hadn’t been a lack of offers after all – but he still had chosen her. Despite everything.

Sighing, she tried to free herself from his grip, although she would love to lay with him like that until the morning hours. But once, she had read in one of her anatomic books, that there was a correlation between sexual activity and urinary infection, which could easily be avoided by emptying the bladder and there was _no_ way, that she would find sleep despite that knowledge.

“What are you doin’?”, Link asked drowsily.

“Call of nature.” She gestured at the sticky mess between her legs, “Well, and cleaning up, I suppose.”

“Hmhm. Stay within earshot, ok?” He added groggily. “Can’t remember if there are any stal-boboklins around.”

“And what will you do then?” Zelda snorted amused. “Fighting them off in your birthday suit with nothing than a torch in your hands?”

He dragged himself to prepare one of their water buckets with a flameblade and some rags for them, a proper bath in the river would have to wait until tomorrow.

“Wouldn’t be the first time”, he muttered, but she had already left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would appreciate feedback especially for this chapter, since it's the first time I wrote smut.


	3. Chapter 3

Somewhere in the wild between Kakariko village and Zora’s domain, on a place far from the road between some remains of a long-forgotten settlement, two Hylian travelers were striking their camp in the early morning hours. The sun was barely creeping over the horizon, the stones of the ruins dark with moisture and the grass only beginning to glitter with dew, but the two had already eaten a meager breakfast of leftover rice balls and some slices of bread. There would surely be some kind of feast in Zora’s Domain due to their arrival today, so they kept things simple.

Link had already secured his baggage on his horse and was still twiddling with the straps of his pack, although there was nothing left to lash. He peered over to the white, noble horse, he had sneaked up to and tamed once on a very similar morning, a single hope in his heart to be able to give it to Zelda one day pushing him forward. She caught him staring – she nearly always caught him staring these days – and made her way over to him.

“What?” She asked, still a little groggy from the early rising and the lack of sleep, expression open and soft.

Link rearranged his stuff again. “I just wanted you to know, that we can, well, postpone making it official”, he gestured between them, “if it is important to you.”

She raised her brow and closed the gap between them. “You are backtracking.”

“No! No. It’s just...I remember enough to know a few things about this Princess stuff and reputation and all. I’m in love with you – Zelda – but I can’t ignore that you are the Princess, too.”

Zelda’s gaze softened and she took his gloved hand.

“Well...”, she said, lifting his hand to brush her hair over her shoulder with his fingers, exposing her slender neck, “You should have considered that before marking me as yours.” She dropped his hand, her face now stern and hard, and he couldn’t tell, if she was joking or not.

“Oh, Hylia.”

He covered his face as if in shame, but in truth, he tried to hide his grin. Regret wouldn’t spirit the love bite away, no matter what. “I would say, I’m sorry, but since you threw yourself at me...”

“What?!” She stepped up to him and glared in his eyes hardly a few inches away. “I did definitely not throw myself at you, you puffed-up Hero!”

Link grinned harder – it was way too easy to put her on edge – so he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer before she could escalate again. He silenced her with a kiss befitting the chemistry between them, all teeth and tongue, arms tightening around her lower back to squeeze her against him. Zelda surrendered immediately, kissing him back fervently, pressing harder in the kiss and against his body until they both stumbled against something solid.

It was really a good thing, that Link had picked one of his calmer tempered horses for the journey, so the poor beast – used even to his master dropping from the sky with his paraglider directly in the saddle – didn’t spook, but nickered and shook his mane.

Link and Zelda, startled by the sound, separated, panting for air.

“Ok, ok, maybe I kissed you first. But don’t pretend you aren’t lucky with the outcome, too.”

“Of course, I am, Zelda. More than you can imagine.” He smiled fondly at her, brushing her cheekbone with his thumb. Then, his smile turned again into a smug grin, and one foot in the stirrup, he teased: “I’m sure, me pressing you in a wall and kissing you senseless was on your list, wasn’t it?”

He mounted his horse quickly, on the one hand, to avoid the slap, she was about to give him and on the other hand to keep himself from pinning her against the said wall again and taking her here and now – they had a schedule to keep, after all.

Zelda tried to shoot him a look, now she couldn’t effectively slap him anymore, but she could hardly suppress her grin. Sprinting over towards her horse, she shouted with an equally smug face, “Who arrives first at Inogo Bridge is allowed to choose who’s on top tonight!”, and mounted her stallion a little clumsy thanks to the slight soreness between her legs, before she chased after the laughing Link.

They made it to Zora’s Domain around early afternoon and as predicted, everybody was making a fuss about their arrival. Zoras ran all over the place to arrange the Royal Suite for Zelda, a room which hadn’t been used for over a century, to prepare a feast upon their success and the return of the Princess and to ask all the questions about how she managed to keep Calamity Ganon at bay for such a long time.

Fortunately for the couple, the Zoras as a race of fish-like people didn’t care about hairstyles in general. They enjoyed jewelry to decorate themselves, but unable to coif their head fins, they lacked knowledge of the finer art of hairdressing. At the former Hylian court, Zelda’s hair, braided along with her head in a one-sided plait and tugged over the shoulder to the front, would surely have spread gossip and had set a new trend of hairstyling among the maids and some of the younger noblewomen, because no one had her ever seen with a headdress like this.

The Zoras were strangers to clothes too, so nobody paid the many loose strands on the backside of her blouse mind – accomplished craftsmanship of somebody who was used to stitch gaping wounds in the skin instead of tiny pearl buttons. But the Zoras were not the Hylians and so, Link and Zelda were chatting unchallenged in the throne room with King Dorephan, Prince Sidon, and a few others who remembered them when the topic turned towards Zelda’s plans for the future.

“I must admit”, said King Dorephan, “I’m a bit curious. You surely have noticed, that your kingdom has carried on without you, somehow. What do you make of that?”

“Yes, of course, they lived their lives without a kingdom for a hundred years. I’m glad they did. I’m ready to assume responsibility, but I won’t march in and claim a throne that hasn’t existed for a century.” Zelda said with her hands clapped in front of her in the best princess manner.

“Wise words for such a young age, Princess. So, what is your idea then?”

“I intend to speak with as many people as possible to get a feeling, what they need, and what they want. Sir Link knows nearly everybody in Hyrule by now and he will help me to connect with my people. I can imagine a system of a constitutional monarchy or even a republic, but we will see that in a few months.”

She smiled her most regal smile at King Dorephan, who had always been a traditionalist. Nobody could put her off her ideas, _she_ was in charge now.

King Dorephan, however, didn’t argue but dealt with the next subject.

“So, Sir Link here will assist you on your task? Am I right that he will take his duty as your appointed knight up again?”

“Actually...” Zelda hesitated and blushed. “Actually, I released him from his duties yesterday.”

“Oh? Now that’s a bit surprising. You told me just minutes ago that he will help you connect with your people.” He raised his fin to his chin in thought. “And you are here now, Link, aren’t you?”

Zelda tried to get Link to speak by pure willpower alone, he _did_ promise not to back out after all.

“Yes. I will always be there to support Zelda”, Link smiled at King Dorephan, stepped next to Zelda, and laid his hand on her smaller back. “But she released me from my duties because we are aiming… for a more private relationship.”

King Dorephan looked from Link to Zelda to Link’s hand on Zelda’s back, before he burst out in a fit of laughter, that shook the whole throne room.

“Now, now”, he said, while he wiped the tears from his eyes, “I should count my lucky stars, that my remaining child is a Prince, with such a princess magnet like Sir Link around!”

How very fortunate for Link that all eyes were on the laughing Zora-King again, before anyone, _especially_ not Zelda, could notice the adorable blush on Prince Sidon’s face as he made eye-contact with Link.

She would never let him hear the end of _that_.


End file.
